One up for Assange!

On Monday WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won a victory in his ongoing battle against extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States, after the High Court in London granted him permission to appeal.
Permission to appeal was to be granted only if the American government was unable to provide the court with suitable assurances that Assange can rely on the First Amendment (free speech) for protection.
The Americans had to prove that Assange, who is Australian, will not be prejudiced at trial due to his nationality, and will be afforded the same protections as an American citizen.
The American side also had to provide assurance that Assange would not be sentenced to death if convicted.
Assange's legal team criticised the assurances provided by the US government at the hearing, arguing that "based on the principle of the separation of powers, the US court can and will apply U.S. law, whatever the executive may say or do”.
Most of the assurances were "blatantly inadequate," said Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange. However, the American assurance on the death penalty was accepted by Assange's legal team.
The lawyer said in written submissions that while the assurance on the death penalty was "an unambiguous executive promise," the other assurances do not give "any reliable promise as to future action".
Assange supporters cheered at the news of the court's ruling. He was not in court on Monday for health reasons, but those present included his wife Stella.
"The judges reached the right decision... as a family we are relieved, but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. Now is the moment to do it. Just abandon the shameful attack on journalists, on the press and on the public," Stella told supporters outside the High Court. According to Assange's legal team, it could be months before the new appeal is heard.
The latest move came after the High Court deferred a decision in March on whether Assange could take his case to another appeal hearing.
Assange, 52, is wanted by the Americans for allegedly disclosing national defence information following WikiLeaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago. These included video footage of an Apache helicopter gunship mowing down journalists and children in the streets of Baghdad in 2007.
Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019. The UK approved his extradition to the USA in 2022, after a judge had initially blocked it due to concerns over his mental health. Assange and his lawyers have subsequently appealed.
Xinhua

We shall return!

keys -- the symbol of the right to return

by New Worker correspondent

Last weekend over 250,000 demonstrators marched through central London to commemorate the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinian Arabs, three-quarters of Palestinian population, from their homeland in 1947/8, and the subsequent denial of their right to return. For over 76 years, the Zionist entity has denied Palestinian refugees their right to return to their lands, and has entrenched a colonial-settler regime of control that systematically discriminates against Palestinians in all aspects of life. Israel’s current genocide is built on the foundations of this project.
Activists from International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity regularly join the Palestinian protests to highlight the links between Western imperialism’s wars in Israel, Ukraine and Yemen –  the role of NATO countries in all three conflicts sending weapons and money and using sanctions to advance the aims of US-led imperialism. Their placards calling for an end to sending weapons and advisors to Ukraine and Israel, and peace talks in Ukraine, Israel-Gaza and Yemen, received an overwhelmingly positive response from the protestors including clenched fists and victory signs.
Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, later said the march was an astonishing demonstration of solidarity. “After 14 marches calling for an end to all UK complicity in genocide, the movement is still growing in size and strength,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands attended yesterday, from all sections of society”.

Palestine will be free!

Corbyn addresses the crowd

By New Worker correspondent

Demonstrators marched through London last weekend to again call on the Sunak government to end its complicity with Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza. And joining them were supporters of the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity Campaign who held a static picket along the route, that linked the struggle in the Donbas with the Palestine liberation movement, before going on to the rally in Hyde Park.
Chants of “Stop bombing Gaza! Stop bombing children!” echoed through the heart of the capital as hundreds of thousands of supporters of the Palestinian cause marched from Parliament Square to Hyde Park. Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader was at the front together with other veteran Palestine solidarity campaigners taking part in the 13th national protest since the first was staged last October.
At the rally Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, said “we demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” and Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador in London,  told the crowd that “Change will come, campus by campus, city by city, country by country. The tide is turning because this is a global movement for change, a global assertion of popular power, of people’s power”.

China condemns Sunak’s slander

by New Worker correspondent

People’s China is urging British politicians to end their belligerent rhetoric and stop stoking up confrontation. They should, instead, focus more on domestic economic and social issues, and act in a way that is truly in the interests of world peace and justice the Chinese Embassy in London said last week following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's criticism of the China-Russia relationship and his listing of China as an “authoritarian state”.
Sunak said the British increase in military spending "is a turning point for European security and a landmark moment in the defence of the United Kingdom". Speaking at the base of the Warsaw Armoured Brigade in Poland, he told a regiment of the Queen's Dragoon Guards that "I want to talk to you about how we equip you to do your duty in an increasingly dangerous world," with Britain and NATO confronting an "axis of authoritarian states" naming Russia, Iran, north Korea, and China.
But Sunak is simply trying to look for excuses to ramp up British military spending through his unwarranted accusations and malicious slander said a spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in London noting that China firmly rejects his Cold War rhetoric that incites antagonism and confrontation.
"China is a peace-loving country, and has all along stood on the side of peace and justice," said the spokesperson in response to Sunak's accusation. "We have always promoted peace talks and sought peaceful settlement of international conflicts. We have contributed more than one-third of global economic growth for many years running, and we are a force for international cooperation and stability in the world. These are indisputable facts”.
Cui Hongjian, a professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, says Sunak's attack on China is largely just "clout-chasing". "Because of the numerous issues both domestically and internationally that the UK faces, Sunak is worried about the country's status as a major power," he said. "As a result, he is eager to make a statement on China-related issues, as only through this can he demonstrate his supposed political stance".
There is another reason for Sunak's hype. In order to enhance the UK's competitiveness, he must hype geopolitical conflicts, presenting so-called external challenges, including China and Russia as his targets, Cui noted.
In contrast to China, the current UK government seems to be stirring up trouble and heightening tension around the world. 
In Ukraine, it has been providing offensive weapons to one side of the conflict, adding fuel to the fire. Over Gaza it has repeatedly opposed resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire at the UN Security Council.  The UK shows no support for Palestine's application for full UN membership and continues to supply weapons to Israel. Now, the UK lacks morality and has no sense of responsibility when it comes to matters of international peace and justice.
But as relations between China and Europe improve and both sides strengthen high-level exchanges, British politicians who are hyping up anti-China rhetoric are more likely to harm the interests of the UK itself.
"At present, China-Europe relations are on a positive track," Cui noted. "If speculative hyping remarks are allowed to ferment and affect a wider range of China-EU relations, it could in turn serve to help anti-China Western politicians achieve their goals”.

Don’t bank on Barclays!

By Theo Russell
Last Saturday 70 people protested in support of the people of Gaza in Camden Town, north London, marching to Barclays Bank in Tottenham Court Road to call for the bank to end its financing of the Israeli war machine. For the second time the Zionists and their far right (EDL), and fascist (English Patriots, I was told) friends staged a counter-protest and this time outnumbered us about three to one.  Some pro-American Iranian monarchists were with the Zionists waving the old Iranian flag of the hated Shah who fled the country after he was overthrown in 1979. But the Palestine solidarity activists stood their ground and received lots of support from passers by - unlike the other side.
The Zionists almost certainly brought people from far and wide to target the Camden march, while there were eight other pro-Palestine marches in London alone, and 29 more across Britain, from the Isle of Wight to Orkney. It’s hard to believe the Zionists attempting to stage counter-protests in Orkney!
Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip has killed over 33,000 Palestinians, and displaced over 1.9 million – more than 85 per cent of Gaza’s population. Yet our political leaders still refuse to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Over the past six months the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been leading massive demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs in London and supporting local initiatives throughout the country. As Israel’s genocidal assault continues, we can’t stop now. We must keep taking action until the Palestinians achieve freedom.

Stop Israeli terror now!

by Theo Russell

Over 80,000 joined a London wide protest calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza last Saturday which ended in a mass rally outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London.
Millions of people across Britain have been marching every weekend for over six months now, in by far the biggest mass peace movement since the protests to try and prevent the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003. But while our imperialist masters, the global Lords of War, brushed aside those protests, since October 2023 the Palestine protests in Britain and around the world have shaken our ruling class to the core, and put them on the back foot.
Addressing the rally in Parliament Square, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told protesters that people all around the world were marching. "Let us continue and let the people of Gaza and the West Bank, the refugee camps and the diaspora, know that you are not alone. We are here with you, we will give you our support for as long as it takes until there is a free Palestine for the Palestinian people to live in. Our message to parliament over there is, 'we ain't disappearing, we'll be here, watching what you're doing' ".
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said: "Friends, two weeks ago Israel launched its attack on Damascus, killing 16 people. This was a hugely provocative and illegal attack by Israel, but the way the media and the politicians talk about, it you'd think that it's Iran that wants to start a wider war.
“But the truth is it's Israel that wants to start a wider war, not only with Iran but in Lebanon too. Such a conflict would be terrible, how many thousands would be added to the terrible death toll in Gaza?
“But the greatest toll would be if Israel uses its nuclear arsenal, which could kill hundreds of thousands of people, and affect hundreds of thousands more through radiation burns and poisoning,  miscarriages and birth defects.
"It was Britain which in the past made it possible for Israel to develop its nuclear weapons. It was Britain which supplied 20 tons of heavy water to Israel, with no safeguards against military use".
All of those taking part last Saturday would never have believed last October that they would still be marching six months later, with the death toll in the Gaza Strip reaching over 33,000, including almost 12,000 children under 15 and over 8,000 women and girls over 14.
But millions of British citizens, the vast majority of the entire population of the UK, support an immediate, permanent ceasefire. The Tories, Labour and some Unionist parties in the north of Ireland, who call for arming Israel and support Zionist aggression, are the only ones resisting this demand and they are increasingly isolated. But the mass solidarity movement with the people of Gaza and Palestine will continue until Israel's genocide and collective punishment ends. Then the priority will be to demand a just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all, with a genuine state the Palestinians can call their home.

Free all Ukrainian political prisoners!

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other anti-fascist activists protesting in Central London last week in solidarity with the of victims of savage fascist repression by the Zelensky regime in Ukraine, and with the millions of Ukrainians driven into exile since the imperialist-backed coup that overthrew the legitimate government in February 2014. Tens of thousands of opponents of the regime which seized power in 2014, including local elected officials, teachers, political activists, journalists and ordinary citizens have faced summary executions, beatings, torture, imprisonment and seizure of property at the hands of the Nazi gangs who are integrated into the Ukrainian state structures, while the Western mass media have turned a blind eye.
The demonstrators, members and supporters of International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), have campaigned for ten years calling for the British government to end its political, diplomatic, economic and military support for the puppet regime in Kiev. The protestors called for all Ukrainian political prisoners to be freed, for full political and media freedom to be restored in Ukraine, and for a comprehensive investigation into the crimes of the fascist militias over the past ten years. They also called for an end to the British government's support for Israeli genocide in Gaza and an immediate end to the merciless Israeli military operation in Gaza. Several people stopped to show strong support for the protest, after overcoming their astonishment at seeing such a protest against the Banderite junta in Kiev in the heart of the British capital.

. Stop arms sales to Israel!

by Theo Russell

Last Saturday around 80 people marched from Kentish Town to Mornington Crescent in north London in one of many local protests across Britain calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Britain to end arms sales to the extreme Zionist government in Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Passing close to the famous Camden Market, the protest as usual ended near Sir Keir Starmer's constituency Labour Party office.
Unlike the previous week there was no pro-Israel counter-protest, although strangely there was coincidentally a small anti-vaxx protest at Mornington Crescent.
The spirit of those protestors who have stuck out the protests which have now continued come rain or shine for six months (at one point the local Camden protests drew over 600 people) was still as strong and determined as ever, and as usual many passing cars, buses, lorries and van drivers hooted loudly in support.
At the rally in Mornington Crescent Luca Salice, the co-Chair of Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) , said the protest coincided with the 30th  anniversary of the Rwanda genocide but as he pointed out "the Western countries looked the other way and did nothing while that genocide was taking place. This time the Western countries are actually supporting and assisting Israel as it conducts genocide against the people of Gaza". Luca also said that Britain is also using its bases on sovereign British territory in Cyprus to supply arms to Israel and to launch fighter jets to bomb Yemen, as it did previously in Iraq and Syria.
Sabby Sagall, also co-Chair of Camden PSC, said that Palestinian refugees driven out of Israel for many decades should be compared to the Jews who fled Nazi Germany and many other countries it occupied.
For the protestors in local actions across the country it is hard to believe that the living nightmare in Gaza is still taking place after six months, but they are as determined as ever to force the British government to unequivocally condemn the Israeli military's actions and call for an immediate end to the deliberate targeting of civilians and creating an inhuman collective punishment in Gaza, demands which only 13 per cent of people in Britain oppose. Every other major party in Britain apart from the Tories, Labour and the Unionists in the north of Ireland supports those demands, and the Government must be forced to listen.

Kim Il Sung: A hero to remember

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other Korean solidarity campaigners at a meeting in central London last weekend to mark the 112th anniversary of the birth of the great Korean leader, Kim Il Sung and celebrate the successes of Korean-style socialism.
Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association that called the meeting,  praised Kim Il Sung, the leader of the Korean communist movement that drove out the Japanese colonialists and established a people’s government after the defeat of Japan in the Second World War. The revolutionary path charted by Kim Il Sung led to the establishment of a people’s republic based on the Juche Idea and Korean-style socialism is now being followed by Kim Jong Un, he said.
Juche-based socialism is not a copy of another country but the essence of the experience of generations of Korean revolutionaries. “In today’s People’s Korea there is free health care, free education , virtually free housing , low cost food and no individual taxation. There aren’t any homeless people , beggars or drug addicts in People’s Korea”.
Andy Brooks recalled his first visit to the DPRK and his meeting with President Kim Il Sung as part of a NCP delegation in 1990. He said how impressed the delegation of the New Communist Party was with the development of the DPRK which surpassed their expectations.
The general secretary of the NCP spoke about the victories of Kim Il Sung, who led the Workers’ Party of Korea until his death in 1994, and the outstanding achievements of those who’ve followed in his footsteps. While the people’s government strives for the peaceful re-unification of the Korea peninsula it has to prepare for whatever the American imperialists, who occupy the south, will do next whatever the outcome of the American presidential election in November  We can expect nothing from Biden, a senile old man who barely knows what day it is. Biden is just a pawn of the “deep state” – the most venal and aggressive elements within the American ruling class. But ultimately so is Donald Trump.
Trump did his best meeting Kim Jong Un twice for talks to try to ease tension on the Korean peninsula but he was constantly thwarted by the hidden hand of the American Establishment in Washington.
A lively Q & A session followed with questions about travel to the DPRK, the nature of internal class enemies in the DPRK and the issue of the DPRK’s relations with neighbouring countries and the meeting closed with the adoption of a solidarity message to Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Free, free Palestine!

  by New Worker correspondent

Every year on 30^th March Palestinians observe Land Day recalling the events on that day in 1976, when six unarmed Palestinians were killed and more than 100 injured by Israeli forces during protests against Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian Arab land. This year Palestinian solidarity campaigners remembered their sacrifice as they took to the streets all around the world to support Palestinian rights and demand an end to the slaughter in Gaza. London was no exception. Over 200,000 people marched through central London for a rally on Land Day in Trafalgar Square. Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said “Many thanks to the more than 200k who filled London with us, on Land Day, the day when Palestinians mark the root causes of this current genocide: 76 years of violent colonisation. We do not stop until the genocide is ended and Apartheid is finally dismantled!”

From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free!

by Theo Russell

Protestors marched in solidarity with the people of Gaza last weekend in Camden, North London, and held a rally near Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency office, in one of dozens of local actions across Britain.
For the first time there was a pro-Israel counter protest near the rally on Saturday with some 30 or so Zionists with a loud PA system trying to make as much noise as possible. While the Palestine protest was smaller than previously in Camden, it was still more than twice as many as the Zionists. Over a dozen cars passed by beeping in support, some with Palestinian flags, but of course there were none supporting the ultra-Zionists.
According to activists who were there the ultra-Zionists looked like “English Defence League” (EDL) types. The EDL is known to have been working with the pro-Israel fanatical extremists.
Liz Wheatley from Camden Unison told the rally that “we in the trade union movement support those who are fighting for their liberation, we support our Palestinian brothers and sisters against the absolutely outrageous genocide that's being committed in Gaza.
“We have a lot of discussions about the future of Palestine in our trade union branch, and we decided after a vote that there should be one democratic state where both peoples have equal civil and democratic rights.
“We realise that not every trade unionist and every trade union branch thinks that, but it's important that people know that trade union branches have such debates.”
Paul Rennie from Camden Palestine Solidarity said “there comes a time in history when you're put to the test as a moral person, a person with humanity. It happened during Iraq. This is another time. Camden Friends of Palestine are standing with the oppressed.
“People in Gaza are starving, and young children are dying in hospital corridors because there are no medical supplies. We cannot let this brutality go on!
“It's time for a ceasefire, bring all the hostages home, and all the Palestinian prisoners too!”
There will be a workplace day of action on May Day for people to plan activities on Palestine.

Shenzhen orchestra wows London

by New Worker correspondent

One of Asia’s leading orchestras came to town last week when the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra arrived in Chelsea for the London leg of a debut tour of Britain that includes London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Over 100 musicians performed an impressive programme of film scores and orchestral pieces at the Cadogan Hall on 13 March that included excerpts from the award-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that was composed by the orchestra's principal honorary conductor, Tan Dun.
Honoured guests included the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, who congratulated the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and expressed his appreciation to all the individuals and organisations from China and the UK who helped make this debut tour of the UK such a success. 
Ambassador Zheng stressed that China will stay the course of high-quality development, and advance the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation through the Chinese path to modernisation. This will surely generate more opportunities for practical cooperation and cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the UK. It is hoped that the cultural and artistic communities of both countries will enhance engagement and cooperation and inject new vitality into the friendship between the Chinese and British people.
The concert at Cadogan Hall was the second leg of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra's tour of eight cities in the UK. Under the baton of Lin Daye, the orchestra's music director, the orchestra worked with Chinese cellist Nie Jiapeng and British violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to perform Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chausson’s Poème, Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso as well as Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome and other masterpieces from the Chinese and Western repertoire. 
Lin said "it has been a dream for a long time to bring the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to the UK. We hope to welcome orchestral audiences new and old with a programme that includes exciting drama, serene beauty, and virtuosic brilliance."
The musicians received enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience and returned to the stage to perform encores presenting the audience with a musical feast blending both Chinese and Western cultural elements.

Stand with Diane!

by Theo Russell

Diane Abbott received a rapturous welcome from around 900 people at a rally outside Hackney Town Hall in east London last week to protest against the vile attack on the MP by multi-millionaire Tory donor Frank Hester. The chant repeated again and again was "We stand with Diane!".
A speaker from the local black women's group, Sistah Space, told the crowd that Diane's parents endured the racism of the Windrush generation. “Diane was the first black woman elected to parliament and is the longest serving black MP. She's a living legend...we are under attack and we have to be vigilant!”
Criticising Labour leader Keir Starmer's suspension of Diane Abbott from the Parliamentary Labour Party, the singer and rapper Lowkey said “the Labour Party has come to power in the past with the support of black voters, and we want our money's worth!” and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose parliamentary seat is in neighbouring Islington, said “I'm proud to be here. We are here to celebrate Diane. We ain't disappearing and we ain't going nowhere!”
Diane Abbott herself said “it is the people of Hackney who selected me, who worked hard to get me elected, and who have stood by me for so many years. We need to stand up for the young generation so that they don't have to go through what our parents experienced. Thank you for your support and help. Now we need to go forward”.
Diane Abbott is immensely popular in Hackney and enjoys massive respect from the local community as their representative, but she also has a magnificent track record of anti-colonialism and opposing imperialist wars from Ireland to Africa and Palestine to Afghanistan.
While some MPs have been given police protection against threats and Rishi Sunak warns that extremists are “threatening our democracy” Tory business minister Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Hester's comment that Diane Abbott should be shot as "trivia" while the black community feel that the Labour leadership has also failed to stand up for Dianne.
While parliament debated the very subject of Hester's outright racism, the Speaker –  a Labour MP –  disgracefully failed to call Diane Abbott to speak even though she stood to be called 49 times.
After Rishi Sunak's shameful failure to return Hester's millions his popularity has sunk to new lows, but Labour also has to realise that the feelings of black British voters can't be trampled on, that they need to feel fully respected, and that includes bringing Diane Abbott back into Labour’s parliamentary party.

Gaza: Stop the Genocide!

by New Worker correspondent

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched on the American embassy in London last weekend to demand justice for the Palestinian Arabs and an immediate end to Israeli aggression in Gaza. Jeremy Corbyn and the singer Charlotte Church joined over 400,000 thousand protesters in London to demand an end to the fighting in the Strip days after an official said the capital's streets have become a "no-go zone for Jews". But 13 different Jewish organisations took part in the National March for Palestine on Saturday giving the lie to the Government’s commissioner for countering extremism who says the protests had turned London into a “no-go zone for Jews every weekend”.
Jeremy Corbyn said: “we’re here because we’re appalled at the bombing that’s still going on in Gaza. We’re also demonstrating our right to demonstrate, there’s so much talk about people shouldn’t be on demonstrations, well today there’s a lot of us here, all faiths, all ethnic groups, men and women, led by women. No problem, no trouble, it’s a march of love.”
The former Labour leader said "there will be as many of them as it takes. It's all very well for Joe Biden to say they're going to build a port to deliver aid. "(It would) be far better if they stopped delivering arms to Israel and made sure there was a ceasefire".
This was echoed by Charlotte Church, the famed Welsh singer and song-writer, who said “there's been singing, there's been drumming, yes, there's been emotion but, in the majority, that emotion has been love, has been compassion, because that's why we're all here. We're all here because we cannot bear what we're witnessing. We cannot bear to see civilians, children, women slaughtered...we're also showing that we are absolutely not going to tolerate our government being a part of propping up an apartheid regime”.

Boycott Israel!

 

by New Worker correspondent

Around 120 people turned out despite the cold, wind and rain last Saturday in Camden, north London, in solidarity with the people of Gaza and all Palestinians. This was just one of dozens of local protests across Britain with the focus on Barclays Bank as a major financial supporter of the Zionist state. These protests took place against the background of a reactionary campaign, to which prime minister Rishi Sunak has now given his backing, to claim that the pro-Palestinian protestors were seeking “mob rule” and threatening the “democratic” system in Britain. The Government, deeply embarrassed at the growing opposition to Israeli aggression that has swept the country, is now putting pressure on the police to crack down on protesters. On this occasion there was a brief standoff when police asked everyone to move to the other side of the road but eventually the stewards agreed and the situation remained calm.

People’s China and the world we want

the CPB's Rob Griffiths and Andy Brooks

by Andy Brooks

New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks took part in a seminar on China’s diplomacy and building a community with a shared future for humanity at the Chinese embassy in London in February. This is his contribution to the discussion.

The key issue of the 21st century is what kind of world do we want and how are we going to build it. It revolves around peace. The struggle to abolish nuclear weapons is crucial for the survival of humanity and eliminating the causes of war is central to averting a Third World War. That is why communists have always understood that the struggles for peace and socialism are indivisible. The Chinese communists are striving to achieve lasting world peace, so that all countries can enjoy a peaceful and stable external environment and their people can live a happy life with their rights fully guaranteed to build a world that is free from fear and enjoys universal security. China’s perspective is based on the concept of ‘one country, two systems’ and the principle that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. But the most aggressive sections of the American ruling class now at the helm in Washington clearly believe in “one world, one system” and that nuclear war is, under certain circumstances, entirely winnable.
This is the era of the “global village” and “globalisation”. But what does that actually mean? It clearly means different things to different people.
For China and the other countries of the Global South it means working together to build a universally beneficial and inclusive economic global system that meets the common needs of all countries, especially the developing countries, and properly addresses the development imbalances between and within countries resulting from the global allocation of resources.
In America, however, globalisation simply means US hegemony. Some call it the “new world order” – others the “American dream in the 21st century” but there’s nothing new about the American dream of world domination. 
US imperialism and it lackeys destroyed the Yugoslav federation and the Libyan Jamahuriya. It fans the flames of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, blocks the return of Taiwan to its Chinese homeland and prolongs the unhappy partition of many countries including Cyprus, Kashmir and Korea. US imperialism has, indeed, established its hegemony over Western Europe – forcing British, French and German imperialism to accept the model of subservience imposed on Japan by US imperialism in 1945. 
This is what the Americans call the “free world” and “rules-based” order. But the “freedom” they recognise is that which allows the big corporations to exploit and plunder and the only rules are Rudyard Kipling’s rules of the jungle. But the dreams of the bourgeois elites who talked about the ‘end of history’ and a new golden age of capitalism that they said would inevitably follow the collapse of the Soviet Union died on the streets of Baghdad and the hills of Afghanistan.
  Wherever there is oppression, there is resistance and now imperialism is on the defensive. The Palestinian Arabs keep up the fight against Zionist aggression. Cuba, Iran and the DPR Korea stand firm in the face of the US blockade and the people of the Donbas remain steadfast in resisting the Nato-backed Ukrainian onslaught.
Capitalism is in the throes of a deep crisis. The slump that began in 2008 continues without any sign of real recovery while China and the Global South build an alternative economic and political system based on mutually advantageous terms and equal shares for all.
Some 85 per cent of the world’s population live in the Global South – the ‘developing’ world that is still largely excluded from the international institutions set up by US imperialism after the Second World War with the support of the weaker imperialist forces who rely on American might to defend their global interests now that their colonial empires have long gone. 
The people of the Global South are sick and tired of the fact that the Americans and their minions in Western Europe have economically dominated the world for decades, forcing and imposing transactions in dollars with the fear that failure to comply with US directives would result in economic and financial sanctions or even “regime change” à la Iraq and Libya.  
Now new structures like the BRICS bloc are challenging the old imperialist system of oppression and exploitation. The BRICS bloc, named after Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa who set it up some 15 years ago, has become a pivot for the Global South in the struggle to end the economic and political stranglehold of Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialism in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
BRICS is open to helping countries develop, as well as promoting investment and trade without strings or preconditions. BRICS is fighting against the concept of a new Cold War and opening the possibility of building a fairer and more equitable international economic order from which the world can benefit. The BRICS bloc is helping to build the multi-polar world that will put an end to the American dream of the “new world order” and world domination. No wonder Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have applied to join the group. Many more will follow in the future.
A new world is indeed possible but it’s not the European Union or the hell-hole of the United States.  It’s the world being built now in People’s China and the new institutions of the Global South that offer an even playing field to all countries to trade and peacefully resolve disputes to build a better future for everyone on the planet.

Stop NATO’s war in Ukraine!

By New Worker correspondent

Simultaneous protests were held in London, Berlin and Paris on Saturday to draw attention to the links between NATO aggression in Ukraine, Gaza and Yemen. The London protest took place in Parliament Square and attracted support from many passers by and international tourists, several of whom actually joined the protestors.
While Western governments, now with the greater involvement of Britain and France, have supported Kiev regime with billions in weapons and money, they have done nothing to stop Israel committing open genocide in Gaza, with hospitals and civilians deliberately targeted over 10,000 children killed, and chaos, disease and starvation affecting Gaza's million people.
Britain, France and the US are still sending weapons to Israel, and while they condemned recent Russian missile strikes in Ukraine, they have looked the other way while Israel deliberately targets civilians in Gaza.
The whole world is witness to Israel’s war crimes, and the hypocrisy of Western governments who support, arm and finance both Ukraine and Israel, who unilaterally bomb Yemen with no UN or other international sanction, and say nothing when Israel repeatedly carries out air strikes and assassinations in Lebanon and Syria. 

International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) has been campaigning for six years in solidarity with anti-fascists in Ukraine, thousands of whom have paid with their lives, torture or prison for resisting the regime installed in 2014 with the support of Britain, the USA and the European Union. Its activists have taken part  in every protest since 7th October in solidarity with the people of Palestine and the Gaza Strip.

China’s path for peace and socialism

Zheng Zeguang opens the seminar

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks took part in a seminar with other communists, academics and businessmen at the Chinese embassy in London last week to celebrate the Chinese New Year and engage in in-depth discussions on China’s socialist path and the global significance of building a community with a shared future for humanity.
The Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, delivered a keynote address in which he pointed out that building a global community with a shared future is the core tenet of Xi Jinping Thought on diplomacy. It is the Communist Party of China’s answer to the question of what kind of world we should build and how to build it. It is also the noble goal pursued by China in conducting major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era.
He pointed out that this has developed from a conceptual proposition to a scientific system, from a promising vision to substantive actions and from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus that has become a glorious banner leading the progress of the times.
 Over the past year China’s economy grew by 5.2 per cent, contributing about one-third of the global economic growth. China's rapid green and low-carbon transition propelled global sustainable development. And China shared more development opportunities with the world through expanded high-level opening up.
China made active efforts to improve relations between other major countries, successfully mediated a historic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and played a constructive role in addressing regional hotspots such as the Palestine-Israel conflict and the Ukraine crisis, making new contributions to world peace.
China actively contributed to the UAE Consensus at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference, enhanced solidarity of the Global South, promoted the historic expansion of BRICS and gave support to the African Union in joining the G20, playing an important role in improving global governance.
Ambassador Zheng said People’s China is calling for an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation. “We will work with all countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind. We call on all countries to uphold dialogue and cooperation and oppose rivalry and confrontation, uphold peace and stability and oppose conflict and war, uphold openness and inclusiveness and oppose “decoupling” and suppression, uphold mutual learning and oppose clash of civilisations, and uphold true multilateralism and oppose unilateralism and bullying” he declared.
China's commitment to interpreting and promoting building a community with a shared future for mankind through its actions serves as a model for the international community. Western disinformation cannot hide this truth as China's proposal and practice are being welcomed and endorsed by a growing number of countries and their people. The participants expressed their readiness to strengthen exchanges and dialogue with China, and make unremitting efforts to build a better world.

Cease-fire now!

by New Worker correspondent

Over 250,000 people marched on the Israeli embassy in London on Saturday in support of the Palestinian Arabs and to demand an immediate end to Israeli aggression in Gaza. At a rally near the Zionist embassy former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot both called for justice for the Palestinian people. 
Ben Jamal, the Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said  “At each stage of Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza we’ve seen horrors that we never thought possible. The images this week from Israel’s bombardment of Rafah, of children with limbs torn apart, should be seared on the conscience of the world. Despite mounting pressure from world leaders, and in defiance of the international court of justice ruling, the Israeli Government has made clear that it is about to launch an attack on Rafah that will lead to unprecedented levels of carnage.
“The moral imperative is clear. An immediate ceasefire is a simple, absolute necessity. The legal imperative is also clear – the UK must abide by its responsibilities under the Genocide Convention to cease any activities that make it complicit. Our Government and Opposition are guilty of an historic failure of leadership and principle. They have chosen to take the side of those committing genocide over those who are its victims, and over the demands of international law. We, with the majority of people in the UK, will continue to hold them to account on our marches, protests, campaigns and in the voting booths”.

Banking on Zionist apartheid

by New Worker correspondent

Don’t bank with Barclays. That was the message of the pickets outside Barclay’s bank in Clapham Junction last Saturday. Barclays is bankrolling Israel's genocidal assault on Palestinians. The bsmk holds over £1 billion in shares, and provides over £3 billion in loans and underwriting to 9 companies whose weapons, components, and military technology are being used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians.
This includes General Dynamics, which produces the gun systems that arm the fighter jets used by Israel to bombard Gaza, and Elbit Systems, which produces armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons used by the Israeli military. By providing investment and financial services to these arms companies, Barclays is facilitating the provision of weapons and technology for Israel’s attacks on Palestinians. This is why Palestine solidarity campaigners are calling for a boycott of all Barclays services until the bank ends its grave complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.